FAA grounds another drone, this time at MLB Spring Training

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The Washington Nationals had a pretty sweet idea for a promo video this spring: shoot footage of their players working out at their Viera, Florida compound with a quadrotor. Drones. Action cams. Baseball. It’s a match made in sports-geek heaven.

As we’ve learned several times over already, in 2014 you can’t go flying toaster-sized objects around private property without expecting the FAA to get their panties in a twist. And they grounded this drone like it was a Mariano Rivera slider.

A Nationals spokesperson may have dropped the drone quote of the year when asked whether the team had gotten special permission to use the quadrotor to film: “No, we didn’t get it cleared, but we don’t get our pop flies cleared either and those go higher than this thing did.”

As I suspected, the recent ruling that appeared to clear the way for low-altitude commercial drones isn’t going to stop the FAA from flexing their muscles. Even without the courts on their side, the FAA still has the power to intimidate and they’re obviously able to do it effectively.

The Nationals got what they needed: enough GoPro video to fill a 40-second spot to sell season tickets. But how much longer is the FAA going to be stomping around in their jackboots shutting down drone flights that are far less likely to interfere with commercial aircraft than, say, a flock of Canada geese or seagulls?

The Nats’ drone didn’t even fly high enough to interfere with a traffic chopper or a blimp — perhaps the kind of aircraft you’re most likely to smash a drone into over a baseball stadium.

FAA officials have said before that they’re working on regulations. They need to sort it out pronto, because we’re all getting a little tired of hearing about the latest awesome project they’ve ruined.